


Living the American Dream

by MissScatteredThoughts



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - All Media Types, Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: 1942, Chronicles of Narnia References, Growing Up, Post-Prince Caspian, Susan Pevensie-centric, Susan's adventures in America, The Problem of Susan, Unrequited Love, attempt to meld book and movie ages
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:02:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27685325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissScatteredThoughts/pseuds/MissScatteredThoughts
Summary: When Susan Pevensie was fourteen, her parents took her away to America. It may not be Narnia, but for Susan it is a new, fresh world and an escape from the prison England has become. The summer of 1942 is the beginning of a new life, far away from the loss of everything Susan once had.
Kudos: 5





	Living the American Dream

**Author's Note:**

> This is most definitely a work-in-progress with no specific amount of chapters. I am only slightly obsessed with Susan's character and development. Shout out to the many Narnia wikipedia pages that helped refresh me on dates and places. 
> 
> The chapter title comes from the song "The Archer", sung by Taylor Swift.

When Susan Pevensie was fourteen, her parents took her away to America. It was the summer of 1942. Peter was going to live with the professor, who had relocated to a much humbler abode in the past year. To the youngest two siblings dismay, they were being sent to live with their aunt and uncle. This pain was exacerbated by the fact that they would be sharing that home with their cousin, Eustace Scrub.

The Pevensie siblings had never been separated for so long or by so many miles, in their entire lives. Or at least their entire British lives. The fifteen years they had spent in Narnia had included military campaigns and diplomatic voyages. At that time, however, the Pevensies had been much closer. They would return to Cair Paravel, sharing details of their encounters and exploits over the banquet hall table. Now, there was always a distance between the siblings, despite proximity. Susan, especially, pulled away from her brothers and sisters, like oil separating from water. They were near each other, but sometime between their first lives in Narnia and their escapades with Caspian, she had lost the ability to meld with them. Whether that was a conscious choice or not, only Susan knew. But her parents were attentive enough to pick up on the change.

* * *

_“Susan, darling”, Her mother began, her face reflected in the mirror Susan was using to style her hair, “I wish you would tell me what’s wrong. Did something happen at school?”_

_This wasn’t the first time her mother had attempted this conversation. When they’d first returned from Narnia and had been sent home, Mrs. Pevensie had chalked up the odd behavior to a coping mechanism for dealing with the war. If her children acted strangely or more grown up, who could blame them? They had been through the Blitz, and sent away from their own home, to a complete strangers house in the country. Eventually, it had settled somewhat and she believed it was behind them. Mr. Pevensie came home from the war, due to a leg injury that left him limping, and they became a family again. Consumed with helping her husband battle his own leftover demons, she put the children’s oddness from her mind. Until Christmas break, when her children returned from their respective boarding schools. There was a palpable tension, but for the life of her, Mrs. Pevensie couldn’t figure out why. With no significant change in the mood, when the children arrived home for Easter break, Mrs. Pevensie knew something had to give._

_Susan regarded her mother in the mirror, calmly meeting her eyes. She took in her mother’s slightly care-worn face. At forty-two, she was still a lovely woman, though the war had aged her. There was pleading in her eyes. Another version of Susan would have softened for that genuine emotion, granting the request of whomever came to her. But that Susan wore a crown and existed only in her memories now. Memories that she wasn’t quite sure she wanted._

_Her mother drew closer, running a hand over the hair Susan had just finished brushing. Although it was obviously free of tangles, the older woman picked up the brush and began running it through her daughter’s hair. It was an act she hadn’t performed in well over four years._

_“If you ever want to talk, dear, you know I am always here.”_

_Susan looked down at the vanity, avoiding looking at her mother’s eyes._

_“That is the problem, mother. You weren’t there. For fifteen years we lived without you, through no fault of yours. I grew up, in a place called Narnia. I became a woman. I lived and loved. I was useful beyond measure._ _Then to be sent back and returned to this traitorous body. Pulled back and forth through some veil of reality by Aslan, damn him. Returning to Narnia, only to find it irrevocably changed. But the feeling… being in Narnia always made everything feel more alive, feel more real. I felt it there again, love, for a Prince I could have reigned with. Only to be told that door was shut to me. How do I live in this dreary corner of the world, where even the sunniest days are a flickering candlelight compared to the blazing fire of a world I will never see again?”_

_The words played only in Susan’s mind, following by the imagination of her mother’s reaction if she spoke so freely. Instead, she looked back up to her mother, only the barest hint of wetness in her eyes, and simply said,_

_“I’ve just been tired.”_

_With that, she stood from the vanity and made her way out of the room._

* * *

On the last day of Easter break, the Pevensie parents announced their plans to bring Susan with them to America that summer for a long vacation. The four of them would finish their spring term, before separating to their respective summer residences. Whatever Susan's problems were, Mrs. Pevensie was sure it was nothing a few thousand miles couldn’t fix. After all, what did a fourteen-year-old girl have to worry about?


End file.
